Capstone Games : Orleans, Invasion Expansion, Strategy Board Game, 2 to 5 Players, 90 Minute Play Time, Ages 12 and Up

Had borrowed a copy of this from a friend to try it out, so the expansion was as we expected. Allows my wife and I to play a cooperative version of the base game.

Pros- Multiple modes of game to explore! Solo, 2-players duel, multiplayer cooperative, and an extension to the multiplayer competitive. Each one is different, thus would definitely keep the game fresh if you try the different game modes everytime.- Fun to play!- Makes the game more replayable. If playing solo, there are 3 scenarios. Each scenario is vastly different from one another thus provides a different puzzle. Actually even if you replay the same scenario, as long as you would use a different set of place tiles, you would still solve a different puzzle every game.- For solo mode, this is a well done brain-burner puzzle. I appreciate that the scenarios have a goal and not just "Have more points than X". The scenario goal and the place tiles that you will use are the big parts of the game that makes each game unique and a fun puzzle to solve.- I really like that the designer put effort to derail players from doing the usual (starting) opening "book moves" (1st moves done in the game, craftsman-knight-university) by creating events that either prevents those actions or events that put more benefits on other actions.- The added rules are so simple. If you're already familiar with the base game, learning this would be easy and fast. It is so easy to integrate with the base game.- If you're looking for comparison with Paladins of the West Kingdom, I already sold it after just 4 games. With Orleans? I already bought the Trade & Intrigue expansion as well as the Invasion expansion! This game is much more replayable (the replayability of Paladins having different goals and different card effects is a fake masking of the same core idea), a much more varied puzzle with the various place tiles (especially when you include the Ortskarten promo tiles, I printed mine on paper), and the events are a fun part of the game.- Others would have wanted thick cardboards, but I love the thin boards (as what's currently being done in Spirit Island)! They are easier to store as it occupies less space (no lid lift) and makes the box lighter.- The rulebook doesn't re-write redundant information, they forward you to where it is originally written. It's more organized that way :)Cons- The designers should have added a simulated AI opponent! Just like what's done in other brilliant solo AIs in Concordia: Solitaria, Gaia Project, Viscounts of the West Kingdom, Wingspan, etc. That alone would have been used as an opponent in solo mode, imitating a 2-player game. It can also be used in low player count games e.g. 2-player games to improve it and make the competition on the map, tiles, and characters more tense. As how it is now, all solo scenarios are different from the actual multiplayer game. What I'm thinking is like in Concordia: Solitaria which has an AI opponent that can be played against solo or be added in a 2 player game, they even added a mode for cooperative and competitive against the AI opponent.- Currently, there are already 2 big expansions for Orleans, but I can't find any information anywhere on how you would integrate everything. So what I did when playing solo is just remove the contents of Trade & Intrigue when playing Invasion solo. For example, there is no indication if you can use the deeds board from Trade & Intrigue when playing the solo scenarios.